School Calendar Tops Atlanta School Board Agenda on Monday

The Atlanta Board of Education will meet Monday and is expected to adopt a new calendar for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 school years. 

The Live Blog of a mid-January meeting included the Superintendent's Report on the calendar issue:

Changes from past calendars include the consolidation of all schools to a single calendar as well as changes to the scheduling of some staff work days. For 2013-14 and 2014-15, the superintendent’s proposal provides flexibility to principals and supervisors in the scheduling of one (1) teacher work day and in the scheduling of 200-day and 220-day staff members (e.g. counselors, social workers, assistant principals) outside of the teacher work year. This will allow schools to tailor their staff schedules to best meet the needs of their students and parents.

A full list of Monday night's items on the agenda can be found here.

Though school security is not on the agenda, the topic could come up in the wake of last week's gun incident at Grady High School, where a student accidentally shot herself in the leg. After the incident, several students said it would be easy to bring a gun on campus by arriving late, thus avoiding the screening at the metal detectors.

Safety plans such as putting armed off-duty officers in every school are part of an ongoing discussion, as well as a plan to put video cameras in every school. 

The Atlanta Board of Education welcomes input from students, staff, parents and members of the community at its Community Meetings at the school system's headquarters at 130 Trinity Avenue SW. 

The required sign-in for speakers begins at 5:00PM and concludes at 5:50PM. (Click here for Community Meeting Guidelines). The full board meeting starts at 6 p.m. Follow the Live Blog online at Talk Up APS.

See Also:

APS Calendar Vote Pushed To March

Davis: APS Police Could Make Schools Safer than Atlanta Police

Grady HS Shooting: Many Questions Remain Unanswered